Subscribe here: https://bit.ly/eudebates Russia's war has caused massive air, water, land and soil pollution, as well as significant damage to ecosystems, with the risk of spillover into neighbouring countries. Estimates based on Ukraine's environmental inspections show that Russia's invasion has inflicted roughly €52.4 billion in environmental damage.
Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, causing catastrophic flooding and submerging thousands of hectares of land, has been condemned by the EU as an act of ‘ecocide’.
In the debate with EU diplomacy Chief Borrell, MEPs are set to highlight the importance of holding Russia accountable, with Ukraine having stated its determination to make Russia pay reparations for the environmental damage.
When it’s time to rebuild, we must prioritize more sustainable and resilient infrastructure in Ukraine.
In its war against Ukraine, Russia has sought to cripple the country’s critical infrastructure. It has attacked homes and hospitals, transportation networks and farmland, energy and civilian nuclear facilities, drinking water and wastewater systems, chemical and steel plants, mining facilities and vital seed banks.
The unprovoked war will pose humanitarian and environmental consequences long after the guns and missile launchers fall silent. Nowhere is this more evident than at the Nova Kakhovka Dam, which was destroyed several weeks ago.
The dam’s destruction has washed away vegetation, eroded riverbanks and contaminated drinking water sources with 150 tons of heavy fuel oil, in addition to polluted sediment and human and animal remains. The loss of the dam also threatens the water available to cool the reactors of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ukrainian officials have estimated overall damage resulting from the dam’s destruction will total more than £1.2 billion.
Russia’s war is, first and foremost, a calamity for the people of Ukraine, with large parts of the population thrown into poverty and displacement. But both in Ukraine and around the world, the war is also increasing vulnerability to climate change, proliferating security risks, complicating efforts on decarbonization and hindering multilateral climate action.
Ukraine already faced challenges in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Damage wrought on the country’s environment and infrastructure by the war has only made these challenges harder to overcome. Meanwhile, the war has led to unprecedented volatility in global food prices, increasing hunger and deprivation in other parts of the world. It has also upended global energy politics, with short-term decisions by policymakers increasing the risk of new carbon emissions being locked in for the long term.
Russia’s war against Ukraine is, first and foremost, a calamity for the people of Ukraine. But both in Ukraine and around the world, the war is also increasing vulnerability to climate change, proliferating long-term security risks, complicating efforts on decarbonization and hindering multilateral climate action.
Ukraine already faced challenges in mitigating and adapting to climate change. The invasion has made the country even more vulnerable, having damaged the environment, destroyed infrastructure and thrown large parts of the population into poverty and displacement.
The effects of the war are being felt far beyond Ukraine’s borders, particularly in terms of food and energy security. Russia’s on–off blockade of Ukraine’s food exports via the Black Sea and the impact of sanctions on Russia’s own food and fertilizer exports have led to unprecedented volatility in global food prices. That volatility has increased hunger and deprivation.
The war has also upended global energy politics. Energy independence, belatedly viewed as a precondition to political security, is now a renewed concern for policymakers. What this means for climate action is uncertain. In the short term, new carbon emissions risk being locked in, as worries over energy independence could encourage countries to delay or cancel action on reducing their carbon footprints. But Russia’s actions in fact provide a compelling argument for phasing down reliance on fossil fuels.
Ultimately, the war may prove a milestone in an emerging period of ‘deglobalization’ that could make collective action on global challenges, including climate change, more difficult. But much depends on actions taken now.
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